I know a lot of us complain about Toronto, but here’s the thing… I love it. Underneath the grit, the dubious transit services, and the abundance of weed shops and Thai restaurants, there’s something kinetic and full of promise in this city. There’s amazing food, from a wide variety of cuisines, and there’s enough kitsch, glamour, and hominess to charm almost any of us. There’s art, and rich culture, and vibrancy. It’s a city that, for all of its flaws, is also full of treasures, and memorable landmarks. From the distinct skyline, featuring the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre, to memorable museums and galleries, to the hustle and bustle of markets and squares — Toronto is full of iconic spots.

To celebrate my love for this city,  I chose to highlight 11 of my favourite Toronto locations, and recommend a book to you, based on YOUR favourite.

The CN Tower – VenCo by Cherie Dimaline

The CN Tower is the centrepiece of the Toronto skyline, and perhaps Toronto’s most iconic landmark. Whether you’re looking for a thrill by participating in the (terrifying) EdgeWalk, or to enjoy a delicious meal at the rotating, 360 Restaurant, or you just want to walk your shaking knees across a glass floor, with a bird’s eye view of the city, it’s a quintessential landmark for tourists and locals alike.

I feel it’s only fair to pair one Toronto icon with another. So if your favourite Toronto landmark is the CN Tower, my book recommendation for you is iconic Toronto-based writer Cherie Dimaline’s VenCo. This is the perfect story for anyone who loves a little adventure, following Lucky, a Métis millennial, living with her grumpy grandmother, who stumbles onto a network of witches, across North America, and into the crosshairs of a powerful witch-hunter, as old as witchcraft itself.

The CNE (The Ex) – The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

Sweet, vibrant, and synonymous with summer, “The Ex”, or the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) is a Toronto tradition with something to love for ALL ages. With inventive food, rides, and games, it’s a sensory overload in the best of ways.

If the CNE is your favourite place to be in Toronto, then the book I’d recommend to you is Casey McQuiston’s The Pairing: a queer, romantic romp through Europe, full of delicious and sumptuous depictions of food, wine, art… and sex ;).  The Pairing follows two bisexual exes who accidentally book the same European food and wine tour, where, in order to prove (or convince themselves) that they’re over each other, they challenge each other to a hookup competition… What could go wrong?

 

The Rogers Centre – Meet Me At the Lake by Carley Fortune

The Rogers Centre is another distinct feature of Toronto’s skyline. The home of the Blue Jays, and the venue for some of the biggest artists to come through the city, this iconic stadium is still known to many as the “Skydome”, and for many of us, it’s synonymous with summer. So, whether it’s the nostalgia, the smell of hotdogs, or the sight of the gorgeous skies overhead that make you love it, the book that best evokes the same feelings of summer nostalgia is Carley Fortune’s Meet Me At the Lake.

This is a sweet and heartfelt contemporary romance that starts off with an incredible twenty-four hours in Toronto, and a pact to meet one year later, which only one of them fulfills. Now, 9 years later, neither of their lives look the same as they used to, but underneath the weight of everything that’s happened, is that connection still there?

The Toronto Zoo – The Phoenix Keeper by S. A. MacLean

The Toronto Zoo is a delight, for kids, families, and animal lovers alike. Featuring animals from around the world, educational and enriching activities, events, and much more, you can spend a whole day here, and it won’t feel like enough! Perhaps the best book to evoke the magic of the Toronto Zoo is a debut fantasy novel set in a magical zoo?

S. A. MacLean’s The Phoenix Keeper follows Alia, the head phoenix keeper at a world-renowned zoo for mythical and magical creatures, where she works to conserve these critically endangered firebirds. The problem is, the zoo’s breeding program hasn’t functioned in over a decade, and after a tragic phoenix heist sabotages the flagship initiative at a neighbouring zoo, Alia must prove that her zoo’s derelict facilities can step in. Featuring a queer, rivals-to-lovers romantic story, relatively low stakes, great friendships, and enough magical animals to keep you entertained, this is a book you’ll be wild about in no time!

The Royal Ontario Museum – The Knowing by Tanya Talaga

The Royal Ontario Museum is one of my favourite places to visit whenever I have visitors from out of town. It’s visually striking, both outside and inside, and it’s packed with some memorable exhibitions, a T-Rex skeleton, and so much more. With ongoing events, like ROM After Dark, there’s something fun for everyone here, especially those with a soft spot for history and culture.

If you love history, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend one of my favourite recent books on Canada’s history, Tanya Talaga’s The Knowing. This is an expansive and immersive exploration of Canada’s history of residential schools, tied together with the thread of Talaga retracing her own ancestry, going back generations, as she tries to find answers about the life and whereabouts of her great-great-grandmother Annie. Tanya Talaga is one of the greatest storytellers out there, and has done incredible work sharing Indigenous and Canadian history in accessible and impactful ways.

Scotiabank Arena – Collide by Bal Khabra

Scotiabank Arena might not be an obvious choice to include on this list, but this venue is perfect for hockey fans, basketball lovers, and concert-goers alike. While it’s less about the arena itself, more likely, your favourite thing about this Toronto landmark is the great memories you’ve made here.

If you always have fond memories of your times at the Scotiabank Arena, then the perfect book for you is Bal Khabra’s Collide. This is a delightful “enemies-to-lovers” sports romance, about an ambitious grad student who, after an ultimatum from her thesis advisor, is forced into an unexpected collision with the hockey team’s captain. They can’t stand each other, but their bickering turns into bantering, and soon, their connection becomes hot enough to melt the ice.

The Art Gallery of Ontario – Peggy by Rebecca Godfrey (and Leslie Jamison)

The Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art museums in North America, featuring over 120,000 works of art, ranging from cutting-edge contemporary art, to significant works by Indigenous and Canadian artists, and more. They have great events, including workshops, camps, courses, installations, and programs for schools, families, and youth. If this is your favourite Toronto spot, you probably enjoy art and culture, and based on that, I’ve got the perfect book for you.

Rebecca Godfrey’s Peggy is a brilliant novel about art, family, love, and becoming oneself — it’s brilliant and fresh, and it tells the story of Peggy Guggenheim, heiress and legendary art collector, completed posthumously by acclaimed writer Leslie Jamison. This story interprets the life of Peggy Guggenheim, a woman who has defied every expectation in order to become an original.

St. Lawrence Market – Knives, Seasoning, and a Dash of Love by Katrina Kwan

Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market is a hub for food lovers and tourists alike, with over 120 local merchants and farmers serving up delicious treats, and unparalleled ingredients. Known for their TikTok-viral “triple sauce”, perfect for pairing with pasta or pizza, this delicious venue is the perfect place to “treat yourself”. Once you’ve grabbed your delicious food, make sure you pair it with the perfect read… Katrina Kwan’s Knives, Seasoning, and a Dash of Love is a spicy workplace romance about a hotheaded celebrity chef who falls for his inexperienced new hire.

Alexander Chen has a chip on his shoulder, and rules his kitchen with an iron fist and fiery temper. But he wasn’t always like this, and no one knows that better than Eden Monroe, his newly hired sous chef who has very likely (very definitely) embellished her resumé to land this job… Sparks fly in the kitchen, as they butt heads more often than they fulfill orders, but what happens when things finally boil over? Now say it with me: “Yes, chef” 😉

The Aga Khan Museum – Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar

The Aga Khan Museum is one of my favourite places in Toronto’s east end. It’s an architectural marvel, and it hosts an incredible collection of art and artifacts from across the Muslim world. If you love art and beauty, and things that are just slightly off the beaten path, then I’ve got the perfect book for you.

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is holding strong as my favourite book of the year so far, and it’s for good reason. This is a lyrical, meditative, and masterful journey through birth, life, death, and beyond. It’s a story about homecomings, art, legacy, beauty, love, and martyrdom. The story follows Cyrus, a young man grappling with an inheritance of loss and violence. As an infant, his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of Tehran, in a senseless tragedy. When he and his father move to the United States, his father works an unglamorous job, killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is an addict, a drunk, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine martyrs of note through history, and in his periphery.

Yonge-Dundas Square – Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

Yonge-Dundas Square is Toronto’s answer to Times Square — with bright lights, big billboards, and its own cast of regular personalities. At its best, it’s a vibrant venue for concerts and events, within walking distance from the Eaton Centre, a movie theatre, the subway, and more. At its worst, it’s crowded, full of kinetic energy, and sensory overstimulation. It’s big, it’s bright, it’s loud, it’s unforgettable.

And if you, like many others, can’t help but be charmed by the frantic pace and bustle of the heart of the city, then I have the perfect book for you: Liselle Sambury’s Blood Like Magic. This is a young adult fantasy about a teen which reads like a love letter to Toronto, with elements of fantasy, science fiction, thriller, and romance. It’s a fast-paced and exciting high-stakes story about a young teen who is tasked to sacrifice her first love, in order to save her family’s magic… The only problem? She’s never been in love.

The Ontario Science Centre (</3) – Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

When my family first immigrated to Canada, we lived in a small apartment near The Ontario Science Centre, and as a young family settling into a new country, we spent a lot of time visiting the nearby, affordable, and absolutely thrilling Ontario Science Centre. Even after we moved out of the city, and into the suburbs, our school would have annual field trips here, and we would take any visitors for a visit. I have the fondest memories of this place, from the IMAX theatre, to the Van de Graaff generator that would make your hair stand on end, to the bat cave and the rainforest room.

The closure of the Science Centre is a devastating loss, so it took me a long time to decide on the perfect book to recommend for people who love it… Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. This is the perfect read for anyone who enjoys learning and is curious about the world around them. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer uses Indigenous wisdom and scientific knowledge to understand and celebrate our reciprocal relationship with the living world.

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Ameema Saeed (@ameemabackwards) is a storyteller, a Capricorn, an avid bookworm, and a curator of very specific playlists and customized book recommendations. She’s a book reviewer, a Sensitivity Reader, a book buyer at Indigo Books & Music, and the Books Editor for She Does the City, where she writes and curates bookish content, and book recommendations. She enjoys bad puns, good food, dancing, and talking about feelings. She writes about books, big feelings, unruly bodies, and her lived experiences, and hopes to write your next favourite book one day. When she’s not reading books, she likes to talk about books (especially diverse books, and books by diverse authors) on her bookstagram: @ReadWithMeemz